Times Change
by FishShips
Summary: I can't do these things. This is a story I wrote with a friend. (Humanstuck) Eridan and Vriska after several years of being enemies finally might be together.


Vriska had always been a snake of a girl, she had always been beautiful. Never too skinny or too big, she had all the right curves in all the right places. Her long jet black hair settled at the small of her back. She always wore a hateful look; even when she was happy or she smiled she looked cruel. She hadn't always been mean, she used to be a rather nice and sweet person, but that was before her accident. Now she was mostly a cold hearted bitch, unless you knew her well. If you did she would show you the side she used to show everyone. She now stood alone, outside of her high school. Leaning on a tree as a cold wind slapped her cheeks. Damn, it was cold outside, why the hell was she out here anyway? The school day had ended about 20 minutes ago but she was still bumming around. She wore a oversized Zacharie sweater and black leggings with her normal tattered red converse. Sighing she hugged herself and stared at the ground, her usual hard expression was softer. After a few minutes of staring at the ground like it was Narnia she picked up her dark blue bag and started walking.

Not half a block away from the school she was met with a sneer and blonde hair. "What's up, Vris?" Eridan Ampora stared at her with his regular look of mixed respect, friendship, and half-fake loathing. He brushed his fingers through the purple streak in the middle of his hair, and twisted one of the many rings on his hands. They'd known each other since they were 7 and had played D&D together for the past 8 years. In the geek circles of Matthew Scott Private Academy, they were by far the most feared of them all. Eridan clung tighter to his scarf as he walked alongside Vriska. "So, Vris..." he started, "Why are you out here in this weather, it seems awfully cold, even for someone as 'badass' as you." He put as much sarcasm into the word as possible, "And it would be a downright shame if you were to freeze to death..." His words were a little more lighthearted this time, even if Eridan did grin when he said it.

She rolled her eyes at the blonde and crossed her arms over her chest, she was already 100% done with everything having had a rather bad day. With a scoff she responded "Yeah, I bet you would be /so/ crushed if I froze, more like you'd have a fucking field day." Her expression was a bit sour as she hoisted her back pack further on her shoulder and walked a bit faster, her converse making a soft thud on the concrete compared to the clicks of his dress shoes.

Eridan put on a look of fake disappointment. "I am surprised that you think that lowly of me. I would, in fact, miss you Vris, probably, maybe, not really, no. But that's still not a nice thing to say about someone. After all, I never tease you about your crush on Tavros, no matter how much of a low-class, stuttering loser he may be."

She growled and shoved him as hard as she could. "Shut your fucking mouth Ampora! I don't like him anymore you son of a bitch!" After she was done with her rant she paused then walked faster to get the hell away from him before she did any further damage.

He caught up to her with ease. His long legs gave him a gait far larger than any pace Vriska could set, even if his skinny jeans did seriously reduce his range of motion. "Come on, Vris," he complained, "I was only joking. Mostly, kind of, sort of, not really, not at all. But you know, I don't really _really_ mean it. You're just being a bitch about it because you still do care. I mean, apathy tends not to have you shove me. And, by the way you owe me five bucks. This scarf is not dry cleaning itself." He flipped the mud off of his scarf, and onto Vriska's shirt with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes and flipped him off "Back the fuck off and go away. Im not in the mood for your bull shit today. You're not getting a dime from me so just leave me alone!" After brushing off her shirt she continued to talk, in hopes of him going away.

"Come on Vris," Eridan complained, "Why are you being such a snob? That's my job goddamit!" He flipped his scarf to swat her in the face, gently of course, so no real harm was done. "That is what you deserve for messing so greatly with the upper class. I am so far above that there is no way to defend yourself against my superiority." It was true, in a way. Eridan was the second richest kid at school, the only person with more dollars was Feferi Peixes, and she couldn't stand Vriska's constant bitchiness. Eridan, on the other hand, seemed to come closer with every hateful comment. He was probably one of the only people who sort of thought of Vriska as a friend, or maybe a rival of sorts. It was always hard to tell with him.

"No NO NO! Just get away from me, you ass hole! Me, a snob? I say HAH the only person that likes you is the fruity bitch Feferi and that's because she feels fucking bad for you! You have two friends and they both hate you! So take a look in the damn mirror before you patronize me, If any one here is superior its me, i could wipe the fucking floor with you!" Vriska had not always been a huuuuuuuuge bitch, she used to be rather nice until her dad died and her mom went off the deep end. After that she was forced to take care of herself since her mom was never home. The only reason she was in this school was because of the large amount of money her father had made and left behind.

Eridan sighed and rolled his eyes. He sometimes longed for the days when Vriska hadn't been an ass and they had run around pretending to be pirates and scaring the daylights out of other kids on the playground. But, he wasn't one to ditch those few people he actually gave a damn about. "Geez, Vris. I was actually joking that time. You seriously need to stop being so touchy. You are a grade-A badass, and badasses don't snap on people every other second

"Well even bad asses have their days, now go the fuck away." As she picked up the pace she wondered how easy it would be to just turn around and kick him square in the balls. "What the fuck do you want from me anyway? Other than to antagonize me?" She hugged her notebook to her chest with a annoyed huff and kept it close.

Eridan hurried to get back to her. "You know," he said quietly, "I would love to be able to actually engage in civilized friendly conversation, as I do consider you my friend. However, whenever I try to do that, you take that as a form of weakness, or some reason to insult me. Hence, I avoid it." He waited for a moment before continuing. "I'm being completely honest here, actually."

"Civil conversation my ass! You came over here and started talking about me getting frostbite! I don't think you understand the word friendship. You're just an ass now and I kinda miss the old you" She shook her head a bit then turned to look up at him. "I don't get you sometimes." She bit the inside of her cheek and looked away.

Eridan paused, letting Vriska get several yards away from him before he spoke up. "You know, Vris, I was saying the exact same thing. I just happened to say it in a more discreet manner." He sat down in the mud on the side of the sidewalk when she kept walking. "I guess we've both changed," he said under his breath, "We're both stupid and emotional and pathetic." He got back to his feet, setting his face into a hard mask, and shouted at Vriska's back. "See you later, Vris, or even better, see you never!" He stormed off back towards the school, wondering why he'd even followed the girl in the exact opposite direction of his house. He had believed that maybe she could stop being such a bitch. He had only made it worse.

She watched him storm off and felt her eyes start to well up with tears. Why was she even crying? Ok so maybe she had a small crush on him , but she could care less about him, Right? She just stood in the middle of the road as her hair rustled from the wind. It was better to stay in the middle of the road them go home to her empty house. She just stared at the ground and wiped her eyes quickly. "Bull shit" She murmured and sniffed.

Eridan sat in front of his desk, staring blankly at the aquarium set in his wall. It was an effort of will to look at the homework in front of him. After all, it was only an excuse to stay in his room. His gaze drifted across his desk, until it landed on a big, black ball, covered in dust and partially hidden behind a picture of the time he'd caught a massive swordfish. He picked up the old ball, blowing off the dust, to reveal the number 8 outlined in white. He knew what it was. A party gift from way back when. He gave it a shake, and a picture rose up in its circular face. His eight-year old self looked back at him, grinning alongside an eight-year old Vriska. The memory was clear. It had been Vriska's eighth birthday party, a pirate themed adventure full of maps, plastic swords, and a treasure chest of birthday cake. It had been one of the happiest days of his life spent with a girl he'd considered to be his best friend. She'd given him the 8-Ball as a gift when he'd turned 10. Right before he could articulate that she meant more to him. Right before she turned into the most massive bitch of all time. He picked the ball up carefully in one hand, then went to his window. When he lifted the glass pane, the cold air rushed into his room and he shivered a bit. A few seconds later, the 8 Ball was in a billion shattered plastic particles on the driveway three stories below. Five minutes later, the wind made sure that even the shards were gone. Eridan closed the window, and started walking back to his desk. He reached to close his wardrobe, which he had left open that morning, and froze when he caught his own reflection. The hipster boy, with his dyed blond hair, and permanent scowl wondered what had happened to the kid in the magic ball. "Fuck you, Vriska Serket."


End file.
